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Rens Waters

Rens Waters (1959) was appointed professor of Astronomy in 2001 at the Astronomical Institute ‘Anton Pannekoek’ of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). In particular his research into the immediate environment of stars (consisting of dusty disks and exo-planets) and the emission of material by evolved stars, has given him a strong international reputation. In 2010 he was appointed General and Scientific Director of SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research.

Border Sessions 2014 - Wed, 12 Nov 2014

Scientific research made possible by this historic landing.

On 12 November the Rosetta lander (ESA) will descend to the comet 67P-Churyumov-Gerasimenko, to study the comets composition. In his lecture Rens Waters will talk about the scientific research that is made possible by this historic landing.

The Rosetta mission is designed to shed new light on the birth of the Universe and the origin of life on Earth. That is why the Rosetta lander (Philae) will gather material from the comet after the landing, in order to be able to determine the composition of the comet. This in turn will shed light on the theory that Earth's water has been transported to our planet by comets. The same is true for the idea that comets may have brought the building blocks of life to Earth.

Border Sessions 2014 - Wed, 12 Nov 2014

Join us at the SpaceNed meetup, where experts will give their view on space technology's future.

Date: Wednesday 12 NovemberTime: 11.00- 12.30Location: La Gayola Spiegeltent, Lange Voorhout 74, The Hague (in front of Escher Museum)Entrance: register for this event using the form below. A Border Sessions ticket is not required for this event.

Before we go into future topics we will shortly preview what can be expected later that day during the Rosetta landing. Which technology, developed more than 10 years ago, enabled Rosetta to orbit and land on a comet today?
What type of innovative technology can be expected in the near future, what is the near future state of science, what can we expect from cross-over technology?
A panel, led by a moderator, will discuss the above topics through leading examples like; OLFAR a low-frequency distributed radio telescope in space, Outernet: the best of the web available to every human on Earth and ESA’s Clean Space initiative trying to make a greener European space sector by assessing and improving our environmental impact, including our near-Earth environment – meaning looking into solution for space debris and other exciting topics in the space field.